Fashion Apparel Research Articles

Optimal dynamic allocation of rental and sales inventory for fashion apparel products

There is a growing trend towards renting rather than permanent ownership of various product categories such as designer clothes and accessories. In this article, we study an emerging retail business model that simultaneously serves rental and sales markets. Specifically, we consider a retailer that primarily focuses on renting while also selectively meeting incidental sales demand. Once a unit is sold, the firm forgoes potentially recurring rental revenues from that unit during the remaining periods. Therefore, it is critical for a retailer to dynamically decide how much of its inventory to allocate for sales and rentals at each period. We first develop a consumer choice model that determines the fraction of the market that chooses renting over purchasing. We characterize the optimal inventory allocation policy and explore how market characteristics and prices impact inventory allocation. We discuss the value of dynamic allocation and observe that the profit improvement can be substantial. In addition, we propose a simple and efficient heuristic policy. Finally, we extend our analysis to study the optimal allocation policies for (i) a retailer that is primarily a seller that selectively meets rental demand, and (ii) a retailer that does not enforce any prioritization between rental and sales demand.

Exploration of dissonance segments among fashion apparel consumers: Evidence from a developing nation

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the existence and profile consumer segments based on dissonance in Indian apparel fashion retail market.Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on cognitive dissonance theory (CDT) and analyses data using cluster and discriminant analysis on a sample (n = 354) from India.FindingsThe findings revealed three dissonance segments among consumers based on the intensity of dissonance experienced. This study also validated the clusters and profiled each segment. In doing so, the three clusters exhibited unique differences with respect to purchase and socio-demographic characteristics. Moreover, high dissonance segments were found to inversely impact customer’s satisfaction, loyalty and overall perceived value and positively impact tendency to switch.Practical implicationsUnderstanding the existence of cognitive dissonance (CD) patterns among consumers is critical for fashion apparel retailers. This paper offers unique insights into the specialties of each dissonance segment that assists the marketers to frame appropriate strategies to target them.Originality/valueThis paper advances knowledge on consumer behavior by highlighting the significance of CD.

Towards a Comprehensive Model of SCM Adoption and Practice in the Fast Fashion Apparel Industry

Along with the phenomenal growth in fast fashion, the industry is beset with many challenges. Topping the list are design, production, and supply of the fast fashion apparel (FFA). Adoption and effective use of supply chain management (SCM) practices in the FFA industry have become indispensable to achieve this. However, there is a gap in the fast fashion literature on the appropriate modeling of adoption and practice of SCM. In addressing this research gap, this study builds a comprehensive model of SCM adoption and practice by extracting relevant factors and variables from FFA manufacturing firms via qualitative field study. This study is one of the first to analyze SCM adoption from the diffusion of innovation theory perspective in the fashion industry. While existing literature does not clearly differentiate between SCM adoption and practice, this research underpins that the diffusion of SCM practices within FFA firms must go through stages of adoption and practice for successful wide-scale implementation.

E-business Through Social Media: An Instagram Page Attribute-Conversion Model in Context of Fashion Apparel Industry

Instagram is a highly favoured platform for visual businesses, particularly fashion apparel industry. There are increasing number of fashion apparel businesses that are growing without any physical presence, solely on the basis of their online platforms. To explore the role of Instagram in consumer engagement for this sector, this article aims to empirically test an Instagram business page attribute-conversion model to examine how attributes of a business Instagram page can influence the purchase decision of a consumer, and subsequently result in conversion. First, based on focus group interviews, four Instagram page attributes relevant for an online fashion apparel business were identified. These were instant popularity gauge, influencer appeal, visual aesthetic and an interactive forum. The final model was tested among 327 consumers using structural equation modelling (SEM). Further, moderating role of gender was investigated. Results show that having a visually aesthetic and an interactive forum with active participation (followers/comments/likes/views) and collaboration with trusted brands/admired social media influencers should form an important component of Instagram sales conversion strategy for online retail businesses.

Analysis of Impulse Buying Behaviour of Consumer During COVID-19: An Empirical Study

This article attempts to analyse the changes occurred in the behaviour of the customer for online buying of fashion products. The prime objective of this study is to bridge the gap by contributing to the literature about the impact of pandemic on consumer buying tendencies for fashion industry. This study proposes a model for impulse buying of fashion apparel based on consumers’ shopping behaviour during COVID-19 pandemic. The conceptual model was developed using stimulus organism response (S-O-R) theory using fashion involvement (FI), hedonic shopping value (HSV) and sales promotion (SP) as independent variables, positive emotions (PE) as a mediating variable and impulse buying (IB) as a dependent variable. The data was collected from 569 respondents from central Indian region, the collected data was analysed using PLS-SEM 3 software. The importance performance map analysis (IPMA) was used to understand the accurate performance of variables. The result shows the significant and positive impact of HSV and PE on IB, unlike FI and SP which were not showing significant impact. Moreover, PE is a significant mediator in the relationship of the constructs. This study contributes by providing original insights into the IB literature. The analyses of IPMA will help the fashion industry to rebound after COVID-19.

Sustainable Textile and Apparel Enterprise Supplier Selection Research

The textile and apparel industry is characterized by fast changes in customer demand and large seasonal impacts on products, which makes supplier selection more difficult. Textile and apparel enterprises should not only maximize their own economic interests, but also pay attention to humanistic care and ecological concepts due to the pressure from the public and the ecological environment. This study addresses the problem of sustainable development in textile and garment industry. A sustainable supplier selection research system, including quality, cost, flexibility, delivery, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and environmental management, was developed. A fashion apparel company was used as a specific case to support the study. The multi-attribute decision method PROMETHEE is used to evaluate supplier performance. The proposed sustainable framework can deal with the problem of supplier selection in textile and apparel industry effectively.

Linkages between market orientation and brand performance with positioning strategies of significant fashion apparels in Pakistan

The study explores the importance of market orientation strategy to enhance brand performance and the mediating role of positioning strategies. The researcher used questionnaires to collect data from the managers of middle and high fashion apparel manufacturing firms based on the quantitative research approach. The data was collected from 220 managers who were directly involved in the decision-making process. The analysis has revealed a significant impact of market orientation strategy on Pakistan’s fashion brands' performance, with the mediating effect of positioning strategies. The management of firms must give considerable importance to market orientation strategies to enhance overall brand performance. The market orientation strategies’ development is also helpful in building different positioning strategies through which performance gets enhanced. This study contributes valuable literature because it focuses on the fashion apparel industry's context, which is almost most important for everyone in the present era. Firms can focus on tight product quality control, innovative manufacturing processes, trained and experienced personnel, and extensive customer service.

A federated approach for fine-grained classification of fashion apparel

As online retail services proliferate and are pervasive in modern lives, applications for classifying fashion apparel features from image data are becoming more indispensable. Online retailers, from leading companies to start-ups, can leverage such applications in order to increase profit margin and enhance the consumer experience. Many notable schemes have been proposed to classify fashion items, however, the majority of such schemes have focused upon classifying basic-level categories, such as T-shirts, pants, skirts, shoes, bags, and so forth. In contrast to most prior efforts, this paper aims to enable an in-depth classification of fashion item attributes within the same category. Beginning with a single dress, we seek to classify the type of dress hem, the hem length, and the sleeve length. The proposed scheme is comprised of three major stages: (a) localization of a target item from an input image using semantic segmentation, (b) detection of human key points (e.g., point of shoulder) using a pre-trained CNN and a bounding box, and (c) three-phase classification of the attributes using a combination of algorithmic approaches and deep neural networks. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed scheme is highly effective, with all categories having average precision of above 93.02%, and outperforms existing Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs)-based schemes.

A Review: Sustainable Fashion Industry Combining Supercritical Dyeing Technology with Non-Toxic Dyes

The international community pays more and more attention to the responsibility of enterprises to the environment and emphasizes that their manufacturing processes. Both of product and service should continue to use overall preventive environmental strategies in order to increase ecological benefits and reduce harm to humans and the environment. We are surprised that apart from the petrochemical industry, the fashion industry turned out to be the most polluting industry in the world. There are two serious sources of pollution in the manufacturing process of glamorous fashion apparel, namely synthetic dyes and fiber dyeing wastewater. How can such pollution be improved? Microbial dyes can be used to replace synthetic dyes, and carbon dioxide gas can be used to replace precious water resources. The sustainable development of the fashion industry can satisfy consumers’ demand for colorful fashion clothing by introducing sustainable environmental protection and green technology.

A self-congruence and impulse buying effect on user’s shopping behaviour over social networking sites: an empirical study

Purpose This study aims to investigate the shopping behaviour of consumers, mainly in fashion apparels, and intends to understand consumer buying patterns in Indian context. The study was designed to determine the level of consumer's sense of belonging towards apparel shopping by applying the concept of self-congruence. Design/methodology/approach The study used variance-based partial least squares structural equational modelling (PLS-SEM) on a cross-sectional study conducted on 569 consumers. The study was conducted by using questionnaire to collect the responses from the central zone of India. The results support most of the projected hypotheses. Findings The study focused on the shopping behaviour of consumer such as self-congruence, impulse buying, hedonic values and consumer satisfaction. The results of the study highlight the association of constructs and analysed the mediation relation of hedonic and impulse buying constructs. The results revealed a positive association among the constructs and also found a partial mediation effect in their relation with constructs. Research limitations/implications The findings are outcomes of an empirical study conducted in the fashion apparel industry of India based on the sample set of urban consumers. The study is restricted to the direct and indirect relationship of constructs. Further, research can examine by using moderating constructs like demographic factors (gender, age, income, etc.) and other shopping behaviours (like brand loyalty, brand love, brand attachment) for more clarity in results. Moreover, the study limited is with fashion apparel, whereas there are many categories in the fashion industry like accessories, perfumes, cosmetic products, footwear and also other products industry. Practical implications The study provided valuable inputs to the literature of marketing where self-congruence affects consumer shopping behaviour such as impulse buying, hedonic values and consumer satisfaction. The study proposes a practical approach that can help the marketing professionals and product developers to have a deep understanding about consumer shopping behaviour for facilitating consumer-oriented goods in the Indian fashion industry. Originality/value This is one of the first studies in the fashion industry to test the association of self-congruence with hedonic value and consumer satisfaction. This relation is not tested in context of fashion apparel. Additionally, this study also examined the mediating effect of hedonic value and impulse buying in relation with self-congruence and consumer satisfaction in the Indian context.

Apparel fashion trends and Instagram: A study of Gujranwala Youth

In the digital age, social media has played an important role in the fashion industry, allowing consumers and anyone interested in fashion to interact more with designers and companies of top clothing, footwear and accessories Range. Our addiction to social media has increased a lot and become more integrated into our lives. People are increasingly impressed with their online exposure in the form of presidents, especially in the fashion field. Fashion is a multi-billion dollar industry with social and economic impact on a global scale. However, the increasing use of social media inside and outside the industry can affect this traditional system. Therefore, let's try to understand the elements of fashion success in the Instagram age. The Instagram account achieves a specific taste, authenticity and brand concept. The project aims to address the state of fashion within the framework of traditional fashion and how to break the tension around veil and fashion prejudices. This research attempts to understand new trends and new technologies promoted by social networks in the fashion industry. How and how they differ from traditional and traditional branding techniques in the fashion industry. This article will conduct an in-depth analysis of selected advertising speeches on fashion industry social media in the form of fashion promotion and corporate advertising on Instagram. This investigates the work of popular social media influencers and their impact on followers. Selected social media influencer forums are specific to YouTube and Instagram. Researchers are trying to understand whether the work of influencers in endorsing or reviewing products has a positive impact on their followers.
 Key Words: Social Media, Fashion, Branding, Instagram, Gujranwala youth

Practices of cultural collectivity: Style activism, Miromoda and Māori fashion in Aotearoa New Zealand

Familiar narratives of fashion history in Aotearoa New Zealand recount the successes of Pākehā (New Zealand European) designers who have forged a distinctive fashion industry at the edge of the world. This narrative overlooks the history of Māori fashion cultures, including the role of ‘style activism’ enacted by political figures such as Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan and collectives such as the Pacific Sisters who advanced the status of Māori and Pasifika design in the twentieth century. It also ignores the changing nature of the New Zealand fashion industry today. One of the most significant recent initiatives to alter perceptions of fashion in Aotearoa New Zealand has been Miromoda, the Indigenous Māori Fashion Apparel Board (IMFAB), established in 2008. By championing the work of Māori fashion designers and prioritizing the values of te ao Māori (the Māori world-view), Miromoda is successfully contributing to the ‘decolonization’ of the New Zealand fashion industry. This article foregrounds practices of cultural collectivity, including that of style activists such as Tirikatene-Sullivan and the Pacific Sisters, and Māori fashion designers such as Kiri Nathan, Tessa Lont (Lontessa) and Bobby Campbell Luke (Campbell Luke), to explore the expansion of a more affirmative fashion future in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Sustainability of Fashion Apparel Toward Environmental Well-Being and Sustainable Development

This paper will look into the agenda of the United Nations (UN) for the planned global, social and environmental progression in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially goals on the quality of education and responsible consumption and production. The combination of these two goals touched on quality education in the field of fashion and also fostered a responsible attitude among producers and consumers. Hence, educators, designers and manufacturers need to ensure the process and production of eco-friendly products do not harm consumers and nature while reducing the amount of waste. Responsibilities of the manufacturers are in terms of producing and adopting sustainable methods in production of textile and clothing products. Furthermore, consumer attitudes and behaviors are also very influential in utilizing of textile products considering the environmental sustainability aspects. In this study, critical review of relevant literature will be conducted. In the context of education for fashion conservation, it is important to raise awareness on the responsibilities of educators, students, consumers and producers on the importance of conserving the environment for future generations. All parties need to play their role in realizing the aspirations of the SDGs agenda. This aspiration can be achieved in an integrated manner through a combination of sustainable practices, positive attitudes and behaviors.

Values, satisfaction and intentions: online innovation perspective for fashion apparels

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to survey the associations among innovation perspective on value priorities, i.e. hedonic vs utilitarian facets, satisfaction among customers and behavioral intents for online fashion apparels in the Asian economic context, i.e. Indian market.Design/methodology/approachThe research used a hypo-deductive strategy and all the constructs were amended from the previous scholarly work. The two-step methodology with structural equation modelling in terms of covariance-based methodology was deployed to weigh the measurement and structural models.FindingsThe conclusions reveal that value priorities in terms of hedonic vs utilitarian dimensions have a substantial influence on satisfaction, and satisfaction significantly affects intentions for online apparels. Additionally, customer satisfaction performs the role of a partial facilitator between hedonic and utilitarian values and purchase intents. In comparison to hedonic, utilitarian priorities display a superior outcome on customer satisfaction and purchase intents for fashion apparels getting sold online portals.Research limitations/implicationsThe research will facilitate online researchers and fashion managers recognize the underlying dimensions of innovation-led perspectives on values, i.e. hedonic vs utilitarian, for satisfaction and behavioral intents.Practical implicationsThe study results will assist online marketers, fashion portals and specialists recognize the characteristics of hedonic vs utilitarian dimensions to improve satisfaction facets and behavioral intents for online fashion apparels.Social implicationsThe present scholarly work presents useful insights related to social transformation with respect to innovative online fashion apparel buying paradigms.Originality/valueIn an Asian market context, the paper is pioneer work to examine the comparative relationships among value priorities, e.g. hedonic vs utilitarian dimensions and their influence on satisfaction and purchase intents for the fashion apparels sold online sector a two-dimensional measure of consumption values.

Retail post-COVID growth strategy – is omni channel the way?

Learning outcomes To enable the students to appreciate the importance of the retail business environment and identification of opportunities set in the context of an emerging market. To make students understand how a value proposition (product) is crafted in a retail organisation. To introduce the technique of developing a service blueprint for designing the retail consumption experience. To induce students to analyse on what criteria should retail business models be evaluated. To introduce the students to the concept of omnichannel retail strategy. Case overview/synopsis The case is about a value-retail chain We Mart India facing the sudden lockdown situation in April 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic hitting India. Shailesh Mehta, the Chief Operating Officer of We Mart is wondering what he should do post the lockdown to bring back the retail chain to its pre-Covid fast-paced growth of 25% YOY in June 2019. We Mart focussed on physical stores as a part of its strategy with an emphasis on the in-store experience. The company catered to the aspirations in fashion for the youth through a series of fashion apparel and accessories in Tiers 2 and 3 cities. The company had grown successfully in two decades and had expansion plans for 2020, which now seemed hazy because of this unpredicted biological disruption impacting businesses. Mehta’s worries were intensified by the change in the consumer trend that was witnessing a shift from offline to online. He wondered about how to incorporate this change and also realign the corporate growth plans in amidst of a challenging situation. To add to his woes were thoughts about established competitors online already apart from the existing offline ones. Research methods: This case is based on primary and secondary data gathered through interviews and publicly available secondary sources. The name of the company and protagonist have been disguised. Complexity academic level The case is suitable for post-graduate (masters in buisness administration) level courses on retail management. The length of the case enables the participants to even read in the class. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 8: Marketing

A Two-Phase Fashion Apparel Detection Method Based on YOLOv4

Object detection is one of the important technologies in the field of computer vision. In the area of fashion apparel, object detection technology has various applications, such as apparel recognition, apparel detection, fashion recommendation, and online search. The recognition task is difficult for a computer because fashion apparel images have different characteristics of clothing appearance and material. Currently, fast and accurate object detection is the most important goal in this field. In this study, we proposed a two-phase fashion apparel detection method named YOLOv4-TPD (YOLOv4 Two-Phase Detection), based on the YOLOv4 algorithm, to address this challenge. The target categories for model detection were divided into the jacket, top, pants, skirt, and bag. According to the definition of inductive transfer learning, the purpose was to transfer the knowledge from the source domain to the target domain that could improve the effect of tasks in the target domain. Therefore, we used the two-phase training method to implement the transfer learning. Finally, the experimental results showed that the mAP of our model was better than the original YOLOv4 model through the two-phase transfer learning. The proposed model has multiple potential applications, such as an automatic labeling system, style retrieval, and similarity detection.

Solar Wear Tattoo: Rethinking Design, Addressing Ecological Sustainability

Environmental issues concern the sustainability of global resources, needed for the survival of human kind. Water is one of the main ecological concerns in terms of maintaining life on earth. Water, which is responsible for the existence of almost, if not, every lifeform on the planet, is also a resource that is widely affected by humanity’s industrial and manufacturing systems. The fashion industry is no exception and, like industrial productions in other areas, requires urgent action regarding the present problem, so that natural resources can be provided to future generations. Water consumed in the creation of materials and products is one concern. Another is the industrial print left on the water during the usage and washing processes on any kind of fashion apparel worn on an aquatic environment was taken into consideration and revised. Recent worldwide happenings brought an emphasis on the urgencies of water-saving. Its use is more wisely applied upon body hydration and hygiene, making it urgent to plan upon strategies of producing fashion products and apparel that provide an eco-friendly approach. Conclusions were drawn through the prospection of existing surfwear models available on today’s market, as well as an introspective revisiting upon the initial project plans compared with the new and more conscious planning towards ecology.

Brand Love and Brand Hate: Integrating Emotions into Brand-Related Experiences and Loyalty

Branding has always garnered substantial interest among marketers for many years. Brand love and brand hate are two aspects of branding that are drawing a great deal of attention today. Yet, there remains a gap in measuring the effect of brand love and brand hate on the relationship between brand experience and brand loyalty for the fashion apparel sector in India. Data was collected from 250 participants using both online and offline channels. Results imputed from the structural equation modeling show that brand experience is directly related to brand loyalty. In addition, brand love mediates the relationship between brand experience and attitudinal loyalty and for brand hate, ideological incompatibility and symbolic incongruity mediate the relationship between brand experience and attitudinal loyalty, as well as, behavioral loyalty.

FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSUMER PURCHASE INTENTION WHILE BUYING ONLINE

Motivation/Background: Today, it is very imperative to study the factors that effect and predict the purchase intention of consumer online shopping. E-tailers and e-commerce is expanding very quickly, especially clothing and fashion brands have shifted to electronic channels to reach out their clients. This is one of the reasons that apparel is amongst the most sold items online. The purpose of this research is to identify the factors that influence consumer choices and which factors have significant effect on consumer purchase intention while online shopping fashion apparel.
 Method: This research has adopted quantitative approach and explanatory research purpose to establish relationship between four independent variables: Convenience, Price, Information and Security on the dependent variable (Consumer purchase intention). Survey response from 300 consumers was collected through online questionnaire and distributed through convenience sampling.
 Results: Data collected was analyzed on SPSS. For two hypotheses, correlation test one-sample t-test was conducted. Further, two hypothesis were analyzed by regression analysis. All four hypotheses were accepted. Results conclude that there is a significant relationship between online purchase intention of consumer and its factors such as price, convenience, security and information about product or service.
 Conclusions: This study has many implications for small retailers to focus on factors that can make it easier selling online. Security measures to protect user data are very vital to bring user back on the e-tailing website or webpage.

A Study on the Factors Influencing the Preference of Sri Lankan Consumers for the Use of Denim Jeans

Denim jeans in vogue these days amongst women as they were available in many fashionable styles. Statistics proved that women were becoming more fashion consumed than men and were inclined to buy denim jeans. Although the consumer preference for denim jeans in the global context has been addressed, thereby establishing certain norms in the market, none of this work has proved helpful in assessing the level of consumer preference in the Sri Lankan denim fashion apparel market. In view of this deficit, this paper focuses on determining the factors of buying denim Jeans for consumer preferences and identifying how it affects demand prevailing in the Sri Lankan denim apparel industry. The researchers used a questionnaire based on to evaluate factors of preference on buying denim jeans. A total of 88 consumers completed the questionnaire. An analysis of the data indicated that 85.5% of consumers expect high-quality when considering buying denim jeans. The results of this study support the multidimensional nature of consumers preference for denim jeans. Findings were analyzed and identified that some recommendations could be used in the product development to enhance the quality and appearance of denim jeans in the Sri Lankan denim apparel fashion market.